MTA: Making Room for All Weary Travelers

How ironic that columnist Steve Lopez, in the next-to-last paragraph of "Sardine Packer Passes for Transit Agency" (Jan. 21), hit upon the exact reason the MTA is continuing its appeal of the federal consent decree.

After unfairly blasting the MTA and glossing over the serious issues the consent decree has raised, Lopez then calls not only for more buses but also for "more trains, more bike lanes and more good reasons to get more people out of their cars."

That's the heart of the MTA's argument for an appeal: Reducing traffic congestion and air pollution in Los Angeles County will require far more than adding more buses to already jammed streets and highways.

The MTA needs the flexibility--without court interference--to size its bus fleet according to need, schedule bus service where it will be most effective and use its scarce resources to fund other transportation programs, including bike lanes and street and highway improvements, that also will serve people who don't use public transit.